World News U.S. to withdraw troops from South Korea

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SEOUL (AP) - A U.S. plan to cut the number of its troops in South Korea by one-third by the end of 2005 will force the South to take more responsibility for defending itself against any North Korean military aggression.

The U.S. plan calls for withdrawing 12,500 of the 37,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea, according to a statement released June 7 by the U.S. military in Seoul.

The statement coincided with the beginning of talks between the two allies on another sensitive issue: moving U.S. troops further south away from the tense border with North Korea.

Those troops were long considered a "tripwire" that would ensure U.S. intervention in the event of an attack from the North.

Many in the South also see it as a healthy restraint on the United States, believing Washington won't take military action that could provoke the North when U.S. troops are in harm's way on the border.

The American plans augur the biggest shift in the U.S. troop deployment in South Korea since the early 1990s, when the two allies coordinated the removal of 7,000 U.S. soldiers.

The new scheme, part of a global realignment of American forces, comes at a time of heightened tension over North Korea's efforts to develop nuclear weapons.

在韓米軍1万2,500人削減へ

在韓米軍は7日、韓国に駐留する軍隊を2005年までに1/3削減することを発表した。これにより韓国は、自国防衛の責任をより負うことになる。

Shukan ST: June 18, 2004

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